Abu Ghraib

nation-prison
forest as green as assisted-suicide
around its decrepit walls
unidentifiable birds fly

the garden grows giants
a crop of annuals
patience is rewarded
with emptiness

it happens
the feeling of isolation
a seeming trifle
comparable to buying bread

to hate one's sister
is to walk in darkness
soon the shocking photographs
of exuberant ghosts
nakedness closed behind a thousand walls
will be banal arguments
in favor of joining the European Union
formerly known as the Common Market
lawn fertilizer
halloween candy
shipped to hospitals
to force them to admit their crimes

no one knows why
so many gods
hover above this grave

+

Gandhara Culture

small bullet proof gold Yuezhi bowl
shaken by Pervez Musharraf drink offering
Indonesian Nissan car-bombing
Parsis good deed ice-cream truck
strength of the Republic of Abbadon
deadly unkempt Syrian dust storm
with the bearded head of a turtle
and body of a wise old hooty owl
to Harat somewhat favorable reaction
on orchid-dotted Caspian shores
the cause of thick black smoke
confirming as unavoidable Byzantine
methodology ten-foot shadow
all mangled and caved in with severed rebar
looking for not-that-good window
crowded noisy phantom disguise
exceeding Hellenic influences
obsessively coveted alien azure
cheering interlocutors unlock the day